Commentary: Loyola (of Illinois) was thought of more highly by
Rewards than the pollsters, since they only had two losses, so Rewards
ranked them as the #2 team. The other three teams in the top four were
almost exactly positioned as in the polls, with #1 Kentucky and #3 Texas
Western (as UTEP was referred to back then) ranked the same, and Loyola was
#5/#6 in the polls and St. Joseph's was #6/#5, but Rewards had St. Joe's as
#8. Michigan was #9/#7, but because of their seven losses, Rewards had them
as #27; obviously, the voters thought more highly of the Big 10 champion,
who did defeat the #10 team in the AP in the NCAAs (which was Western
Kentucky, who was #10 according to Rewards as well, but they strangely did
not appear in the UPI's top 20) so Michigan's ranking in the polls seems to
be validated by that win. Other than the Wolverines, there was reasonable
correlation between the top 10 in the polls, and who the Reward system put
there.

The NCAA tournament champion team from Texas Western did move
up to #1 in the final Rewards ranking, and Western Kentucky, who defeated
Loyola in the NCAA opening round, moved up to #5, and Loyola dropped to #4;
NIT Champion BYU moved up from #11 to #9 in the final Rewards ranking.